First off, I apologize to my friends and roleplay partners who've been left hanging. Any desire to cancel old threads is completely understandable.

I've been struggling with a serious health issue the past several months. There was a long period where things would seem to improve only to relapse, delaying things further. All that aside, just wanted to let people know I'm around again and to contact me via PM or Trillian - ironsoldier, if anyone wants to get things going again.

And that was why Kozue loved her high-flying moves. Because it didn't matter how big you were, how strong you were, or how well-padded you were in the chest area, a 130 pound girl falling on you from about ten feet up always hurt. Alaina would probably agree, if she had the breath to speak.

Kozue rolled to her feet and stood up, snapping back into her fighting stance without even thinking about it. Protip for fighting girls like me - always keep on the lookout. Got to wait for me to make a mistake then bring me down, hard." Seemed like good advice, anyway. That was typically where she messed up in matches, when some guy broken through her pattern and screwed the plan. "Not that I'm planning on messing anything up..."

She moved in and let Alaina get to her feet, giving the girl a little bit of a break instead of just hammering her into the floor. All the same, she was cautious - the longer this went on, the worse things would go for her. She was sure Alaina had better stamina, and while speed was on her side, she wouldn't be getting any fast as the match went on.

Spar. Not match. Spar. Right.

She took a few quick steps towards Alaina and went back on the attack, this time trying to see how well she did with a fakeout. Kozue started to swing her leg out low, looking like she was going for a sweep, then pulled it back fast and threw out the real kick, a roundhouse aimed at the side of her head.

Alaina regained her spatial awareness quickly enough to see that Kozue let her get up, but also began to move in.

As Kozue began to kick low, Alaina hopped back out of range. However, Kozue wasn't playing any games, quickly altering the kick to come flying right at Alaina's face! The distance she created was the only thing that allowed her to get her arms up in time to absorb the force meant for the side of her head!

"Ahh! Damn that was close!" Alaina said as her forearms throbbed from the impact. Still, it was better that than her being knocked in the head and floored. If Alaina was close enough for Kozue to kick at, in turn she must be within striking distance. Alaina swung her right leg around, looking to catch Kozue's side with a kick of her own!

Kozue had been so wrapped up in the kick and making sure her timing was correct and getting the movements just right that she neglected to consider the remote, minute, sparse possibility that Alaina might actually dodge the whole thing and make her fake point less. When the real kick went out and caught nothing but air, she was knocked off her balance and stumbled away, quickly trying to right herself and get on two, good feet.

But not quick enough. Alaina had a few good kicks in her, too, and Kozue had one of them slam hard right into her ribs. Kozue barely had enough time to bite down hard and keep the scream contained. Not that it matttered. The pain was all over her face, made extremely obvious from the way she clutched her side and backed away towards the turnbuckle.

"God damn." She rubbed her side just a little two hard and winced at the chain reaction it caused. "You hit like a fucking Mack truck."

Alaina looked a bit concerned, her eyes widening a little. She knew Kozue probably didn't take offense to the hit, but Alaina wanted to be sure she wasn't going overboard. "You ok? I can tone down the hits but if I go any slower you will be running circles around me even more than you already are!"

As Alaina spoke, she had no plans of letting up however. She moved forward looking to sidestep and spin around Kozue, grabbing her around the waist from behind. She kept telling herself that technique and footwork needed to come first today...

Kozue tried to laugh it off and immediately regretted it. Laughing was a little more than her innards could stand at the moment, apparently. "I'm good, I'm good, come on!" Pain or no pain, she was having fun. The line between a spar and a real match might have been a little blurry, but she had no problems with either of them crossing it, every now and then. Just not something they could make a habit of.

She started to give Alaina the thumbs up, but she cut it short when the Amazon went on the attack again, getting around her with good footwork. It wasn't just the speed of the move the way Kozue was still reeling from the kick that slowed her down - no, Alaina just had skills like that. The way she spun into her position like that was art, and Kozue hated to defame it. But she would. Or she'd try, at least.

Whatever Alaina was going for, she didn't want to be in her grip long enough for her to try it. She reached down and tried to pry her arms off while she let her legs go slack to make her deal with all the weight.

What she didn't expect was the dead weight from Kozue's legs going limp. Alaina didn't havea proper grip set and her slippery opponent fell to the mat. "Damn it!" Alaina loudly shouted in frustration. She quickly moved away out of immediate striking distance as quickly as she planned to try to counter whatever Kozue had in store for her.

Kozue scrambled the moment she hit the floor, swinging her legs around in a windmill kip-up. Alaina was too far out to get hit by her spinning legs, but that was fine. The move got her up fast and gave her some distance from those crushing arms and those sledgehammer kicks. The more space she had to move, the crazier shit she could do.

The fake out might have worked last time if Alaina hadn't been too far out, so Kozue decided to try something a little wilder with a little more distance to it. She did a little hop to close the gap, then swung out her leg in a roundhouse kick. She kept it pulled in, tried to make sure it would just miss hitting Alaina, so it would make a decent mask for the second kick - her body stayed in motion, twisted around, and the other leg shot out with a spinning heel kick, aimed at Alaina's chest.

Kozue was full of surprises as Alaina was about to find out. She saw the roundhouse kick coming and was ready to block it. However, the full force of a spinning heel kick was something she was unprepared for.

"Uungh!"

Alaina hit the mat back-first with a loud thud, but did manage to keep her eyes on Kozue this time. Alaina nearly had the wind knocked out of her, and knew she had to get back on her feet. Being flat on your back was never good but someone as unpredictable as Kozue probably had ways to exploit this position that Alaina hadn't seen yet.

That was the bright side at least. If she saw something here she would have a better idea on how to counter it a second time in a match.

Kozue thought she might knock Alaina into the ropes and set up for a clothesline or another high kick or something like that. Nope. She knocked her down. Flat. Last time she checked, her legs didn't have that kind of power. She'd never knocked down a guy with that sort of kick. Maybe Alaina tripped? Maybe she was getting better? It was nice to see some good results.

It'd be something to think about later in a calm moment, not when they were going at it full tilt. She only wished Junko or their other instructor were around. A few tips on the go would be nice. Maybe next time.

Kozue kept her chain going and went right back on the attack. She hopped forward, just a little bounce to put her in the right position beside Alaina. From there she jumped forward with a somersault, letting her legs swing around in arc, going straight for Alaina's chest as she tumbled.

Alaina saw Kozue coming but she was to slow to react. Kozues legs landed across her chest and Alaina let out a grunt as she kicked the mat. "D-dammit...." Alaina was feeling a bit frustrated at her inability to counter someone so speedy. She couldn't let that happen, she had to keep calm and think. Think.......

Alaina had to do something and fast. Alaina rolled over onto her side and tried to at least get to one knee. Kozue was still close and seemed to prefer kicks. Alaina guessed another kick was coming her way. If Alaina could grab a hold of one of Kozues legs she would try to take Kozue out from underneath and climb on top of her in a mounted position.